After six extremely successful albums featuring Dutch sonatas for violoncello and piano, Doris Hochscheid (cello) and Frans van Ruth (piano) make their way to Paris, where they are surprised to discover a great many fellow Dutch musicians who made significant contributions to the music scene in the Seine metropolis.

Four of them are found on the dynamic duo’s latest Super Audio CD - Alexander Batta, Joseph Hollman, Andrée Bonhomme and Emile Wesly, all of whom grew up in Maastricht and later were active in Paris under very different circumstances.

Alexandre Batta’s cello playing took the Parisian salons by storm. Both Berlioz and Balzac expressed themselves euphorically about his singing tone, and he perfectly satisfied the public’s taste with his numerous paraphrases of current operas.

Somewhat later, Joseph Hollman charmed society with miniatures as if made for the salon. Hollman’s duo partner Camille Saint-Saëns dedicated his famous cello concerto to him, and it was also Hollman who premiered the Double Concerto for Violin and Cello with Eugène Isaÿe.

Émile Wesly’s 'Rêverie d’automne' was also dedicated to Hollman. Andrée Bonhomme, who studied with Darius Milhaud, found a very different tone.